Google Throws Motorola Under the Bus, Says Phones Lack “Wow”

If you want to build morale at a company you acquired, there are certain words you may want not to utter in public as the parent company. Here are some: “Motorola has a pipeline of products that were fine, but not really to the standards that Google would say is wow–innovative, transformative.” That’s Google’s Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Patrick Pichette speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference. It gets worse.

This tidbit makes Motorola’s upcoming phone lineup seem like the wireless equivalent of a cyst. “We’ve inherited 18 months of timeline that we actually have to drain right now.”

To be fair, Pichette attempted to put a positive spin on his damning criticism, saying that Motorola “has a great set of assets.” But is this any way to treat a company you spent $13 billion to get?

Granted, Motorola’s most valuable assets are actually patents. But the brand has created some great phones over the past year, including the compact yet powerful Droid RAZR M and long-lasting Droid RAZR Maxx HD. Too bad you can only buy these phones from Verizon Wireless. Google is looking for more scale and more impact.

Overall, Pichette offered a positive outlook, saying that “we’re very optimistic and very supportive. We have great plans for Motorola.” He also acknowledged that there’s “still a lot of work to do” as Google and Motorola try to build a company for the long term. Maybe the rumored Motorola X Phone is not coming this May as some have reported.

In the short term, don’t be surprised if there’s a lot of bruised egos within Motorola’s ranks, including ex-Google Senior VP and current Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside.

Responsible for the editorial vision for Laptop Mag and Tom's Guide, Mark Spoonauer has been Editor in Chief of LAPTOP since 2003 and has covered technology for nearly 15 years. Mark speaks at key tech industry events and makes regular media appearances on CNBC, Fox and CNN. Mark was previously reviews editor at Mobile Computing, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc.